Training time yet again!!

Hello!!!

Seems like there are so many fun things that are happening at home, Happy Be-lated Birthday to Marina!!!! Love you! Derek sent me a few pictures of Marina at the Masters in the Hall concert, it brought back so many great singing memories :)

Things this week have been great! This week has been filled with trainings and new missionary things so nothing too too exciting! But my new companion, fresh from the CCM is named Sister Hibbard! She is from Draper, Utah and was in the Mexico MTC for 6 weeks. :) She is super awesome. Cool thing, she told me that she had actually dreamed about me being her trainer. She dreamed of a latina with curly hair, that was latina but that her first language was English. She said that when she came into the chapel and they were about to announce who would train who and that when she saw me, she knew I was gonna be her trainer :) Spot on! Lol

Me and my companera!!!

 It seems like adjusting to the new missionary lifestyle has been good but like I remember, I know its been hard for her too. I'll admit its been a little overwhelming this first week, but I know I have the Lord's help and Hermana Hibbard will learn Spanish quickly. :) 

We have been teaching Graciela, that I had mentioned a few weeks back, the one who we found at her doorstep and who was so interested in getting baptized! She's progressing really well and we're helping her prepare for baptism for May :) She is the sweetest she always calls us "mi corazon" "mis preciosas" she is the best. Our recent converts are doing well, Emerson is still the crazy 9-year old Emerson and we are trying to continue to help his mother Sintia to accept the gospel but when we talked to her last, she said little by little. Ramon is also doing great, he is going to get confirmed this coming Sunday, because this last Sunday was our LA Stake Conference.

At Stake Conference they mentioned a lot about the importance of Sabbath Day worship and they mentioned a lot about having faith. I have been trying to focus on faith-filled thoughts this week, even when it is really hard because it makes all the difference. I invite you all to have faith filled thoughts, anytime you feel down or negative but to rethink them/rephrase them to be more positive. It really does make all the difference! You will see more your Heavenly Father's hand in your life, rather than the things that don't go quite right. Something that I was reminded by President this week is that we're not perfect, no one is perfect so don't stress just keep trying your best, it'll all work out! 

I am super excited to talk to ya'll on Mothers Day, I can hardly wait!!! Keep on keeping on! The Savior loves you! Never forget it! Love you!!!

Hermana Abreu 

"Miracle Week"

I am so happy that Giselle is home, I know everyone in the fam must be pretty excited! :) Enjoy the week you have with her!!!!!! <3

Highlight of the week, we had a baptism!!!!! 

Emerson's Baptism!!!

Emerson was baptized yesterday and the baptismal service was great. As always, getting a baptism together can be a bit crazy but it turned out pretty perfect. In order to get the whole fam to church we showed up at their house at 8:30am with doughnuts and they got ready and arrived to church about 30 minutes late but they arrived hehe :) Sister Castillo and I (having had experience with younger children at sacrament meeting) made a little crayon/coloring kit for Andre, Emersons' younger brother and their cousin and lo' and behold they stayed quiet the whole time! Being part of a family of 6 has its pros ;) 

The best part of the baptism was the fact that the ward played a huge part in it. Its been a hard transition, especially because they belong to the LA 6th ward but because of their family situation they were investigating and going to our ward, LA 3rd. In the end, the primary president got together a small choir of primary children and they sang two songs for the musical number and the primary president gave Emerson his own set of little scriptures; he was so excited! And almost the whole ward was there! It was the most people I had seen at a baptismal service. Not everyone fit in the room so some people had to watch from the staircase which worked out, especially with how this church building is set up. It was a cool experience seeing how the ward really did work together and made Emerson feel really welcomed to the ward and the spirit was so strong. Teaching Emerson has been a really neat experience. Right now we are trying to teach his mom, Cynthia who really enjoyed the baptism and we're hoping to help them be an eternal family. :) 

Other cool things this week, our mission did something this week called "Miracle Week" where we all set goals and made plans to make our key indicators explode and to do everything we could to make it the best week ever! The mission set double the baptismal dates this week and the miracles that were shared across the mission were numerous! As for our area, we set goals and made plans and did everything we could to get our 20 conversations, everyday and to get members out with us because we had been lacking in that. As we did that, we had something cool happen. We had received a referral from an old lady named Ana, that apparently Sister Castillo already knew who was a former investigator from a few months back. She really isn't mentally all the way there and she just invited missionaries over for the company but because it was in our referral system we went over to check and see if she was interested this time. We went over and we just showed her a video and the whole time she was asleep... hehehe we left feeling a little bummed. We then started walking all the way down the street until we realized we had planned a potential in that same complex, we were debating whether or not to go see her but we felt prompted to walk back and try her. We knocked and a woman opened the door, we introduced ourselves and at first she didn't seem very interested but we began teaching the Restoration and her eyes lit up. She then began starting to asking question after question after question. It turned out she is from Cuba and she doesn't know much about religion especially because when she lived there that was not really allowed. She became so interested as we explained about the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We answered her questions and she eventually started asking questions like "how do I get baptized?" "who would baptize me?" "what do I wear?" "where am I going to be baptized?" until we finally extended a baptismal date and she gladly accepted. It was so cool!!! I know the Lord led us to her, the Spirit prompted us to put her in our plans, and he also prompted us to turn back and to see her. I have such a strong testimony of the power and influence from the Holy Ghost. I hope and pray that all of you act on those promptings that you receive because that is how God puts us where we need to be to help His children.

Sorry for the long e-mail, I just felt I had to share all that's happened this week, because it truly has been miraculous. We have another baptism planned for this Sunday, for a man named Ramon who was a member referral, we have been teaching him for three weeks and he'll be baptized this week! I love this work! I love the Savior, His gospel!!

I love you all a billion and I pray that you're all safe and well this week!!!!!! <3 

Hasta Luego!

-Hermana Abreu 

Dinner with the Chavez fam, they are the best! p.s. their dogs are in the picture because they literally act as if they were their children...their names are bobby, luis and tomas hahaha so we had to include them in the picture

Zone Picture!

Weeks fly by!

   Weeks really do fly by, this transfer feels like it has flown by as well. We only have 2 more weeks until the end of this transfer and it has been really fun and a growing experience for me. 

      General Conference had to have been the highlight of the whole entire week! The Los Angeles church building that our ward attends is probably one of the most beautiful church buildings I have ever been in. It is also the most historic. It really was such an awesome experience to listen to general conference in that beautiful building, with the chapel echoing the voices of our apostles, our dear prophet and the most beautiful music from the Mormon Tabernacle choir, (with my uncle Charles and my aunt Julee Ann as a part of) :) Being a missionary, watching conference is a very different experience but a life-changing one. I've seen how its changed from just words or phrases coming from apostles mouths, to personal revelation that is conveyed to our hearts and to the hearts of our investigators, through the Holy Ghost. I understand much more deeply the messages they share and the simplicity of the doctrine that they bring. I am so grateful for our living day prophet Thomas S. Monson, and our living day apostles and members of the seventy. I know they are called of God. I think I was touched most powerfully by the last talk that was given by Jeffrey R. Holland. As missionaries I think we all too often wish that tomorrow would never come. Tomorrow brings change, a new companion, a hard day of work, new challenges, etc. We love where we are and we never want to leave. Missionaries who love their missions never want to go home. But it is important that the things we learn today, on our missions or general conference stay with us and carry with us to tomorrow. Let us not forget what we felt this weekend and apply it to our life. I love Jesus Christ, I love the Atonement, because as it was mentioned this weekend, we don't have to be perfect! We just have to be our best, God makes up the rest, we just have to be humble and willing to submit our will to His. I know its all true.

     One of my favorite quotes that was mentioned by Gerrit Gong was that, "Jesus Christ knows everything we don't want others to know about us and he still loves us." 

His love is infinite and we are never too far from saving.

I love you all and that's all I really felt I needed to share this week. I pray for you every single day. Live the gospel and love life!!!

Hermana Abreu

I ate "chapulines" known in english as crickets... :P

My companion Hna. Castillo with the "chapulines"!

They didn't taste good! They also didn't taste horrible, I think it was more of the idea that they are crickets.

If I didn't think about it they weren't horrible! They were flavored with chile and limon so I feel like Papi wouldn't mind them :) :) 

that picture of stacks of papers are teaching records that we have had to manually put into our ipads because everything is now digital...we are finally done but we have been working on this process for about 4 months now!

Sister Castillo and our new investigator, Beralee eating chapulines!

Canoas made from "platanos maduros con queso" yum!

 

Temple Day

Seeing Jalo and Matthew

Happy Spring Break!!!

Happy Spring Break!

Well at least it is spring break for everyone around here this week, which makes proselyting 10x better because families will be home and out walking and enjoying the vacation! Spring is for sure hitting LA because its getting hot again, not too bad but definitely warming up. Happy early Easter to everyone. I love Easter, I feel like I have come to appreciate it so much more as I have been studying the Atonement, Christ's ministry and His Resurrection! I can't get enough of telling people about it! :) 

With our mini missionary we had this weekend, Sister Sofele!

 

 

    Well I can't really express into words how strongly I have felt the Lord's awareness and love for me and my comp this week, especially this weekend. I had mentioned that the week before we were a bit bummed out and were feeling abandoned because of all the people that we had to hand back to the Lord and stop teaching them, to the point where we were having no lessons and no one to work with. We actually had Zone Conference this week, on Friday and normally before we start the meeting President and Sister Weidman always have us come up and they greet all the missionaries one by one, President jokes that they want to look into our souls...haha and this time when I shook President's hand he looked at me and told me to "Hang in there. I know your area is going to start looking up!!" It gave me so much comfort! After the uplifting zone conference, filled with trainings about counseling with our comps, burying our missionary "weapons of rebellion" how to more effectively daily and weekly plan, we went to work! Blessings have been poured over our area this week as we have.

We got a mini missionary for the weekend, Hermana Sofele, who didn't know a lick of spanish but we had a great time together. On Friday night we picked her up and ran to our dinner appt. While we were eating, Hermana Franco's son came in while we were about to begin our spiritual thought and brought in a friend of his, a young mother and her son, Anita and Jonny because apparently they needed a place to be for a while. So we shared the video with the both of them. We shared the Easter video and she liked it a lot and so we set an RA and she became a new investigator! The next day, Saturday we called it "Bendiciones Saturday" There were so many miracles!!!! Every time I saw a tender mercy I would start singing "Count Your Blessings" in Spanish and I sang it about 13 or 14 times that day. All that day we received referral after referral from either the other Elders in the ward about people that were in our area, waiting for missionaries to come, a referral from the VC, this really prepared guy that says he wants to be Mormon and we met the cutest family Sandy and her two daughters, Aurora and Melody. We had a lesson with the mom, Sandy and we felt the spirit so strong as we testified about how this gospel would bless her family. The rest of the day we tried people and all the apartment gates were open and everyone was home! We worked so hard, all while laughing along with our mini missionary. At the end of the day I just came home that day with the surest testimony that God loves us. He NEVER leaves his missionaries alone or anyone else. We have to trust Him enough to keep pushing through, being obedient and working hard. I know without a doubt that God has prepared these people that will become new investigators. My heart is so full!!!! I just want to repay Him by taking care of His children and being a worthy vessel to teach them about the gospel. Sister Castillo are really looking forward to this next week as we meet with these people. To anyone who is really suffering for any reason I want you to know that God knows where you're at and what you need and He loves you! Look for the tender mercies and when you can't see em' pray to see them! I love you all and I hope you enjoy your spring break..whether its this week or next week! ;) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL THE BIRTHDAY COUSINS I LOVE YOU, AND I WILL BE THINKING OF YOU! Happy Birthday to Cameron, Gitta and Tanner and Happy birthday Mom, I love you. Happy Easter! #Hallelujah

Con amor, 

Hermana Abreu

 Raspados while contacting on the street, Sister Castillo was craving one so bad one day and she was like "I wish more than anything that I could get a raspado, its so hot..."

and then we found a man selling them just around the corner! BENDICIONES 

Preparation day adventures @ Target 

"Mustache you a question.." and "Princess Castillo"

 

 

 

"Follow Him"

Hi to all!!! 

It makes me so happy to hear about all the fun that's happening in at home :) 

Marina and the gang really did look beautiful. Her dress was so pretty!!! That is so funny about Genevieve Lee! I "ODIO su cara" Hahahaha I miss that girl! I know it's probably hard, all her seesters leaving her one by one :) please tell her how much I LOVE her! And all those sweet babies, Rio, and Ryker. Whenever we teach families or I see families out in public I just think of you guys! 

It's been a good week with a lot of really cool things happening :) 

 

On Tuesday we had a really fun lesson with our new investigators Cynthia and Emerson. Cynthia is Emerson's mother and Emerson is about 9 years old! Emerson also has a little brother who's six named Andres who we also have been teaching because he loves learning.

We're teaching a 9 year old named Emerson and this is his little brother Andres. He is 6 years old; he reminds me so much of Ryke T!

For the lesson we taught Emerson and Andres the Ten Commandments and made it fun using our hands. (One of my comps showed me a really fun and easy way to teach them :) ) and they loved it and we're pretty proud of themselves for learning them all! During the lesson Andres mentioned that commandment #11 is "Don't hit your brother!!!" And then throughout the rest of the time he kept thinking of other commandments that were all pretty valid :) they also danced the "watch me whip and watch me nene" don't really know what that is but it was the funniest thing ever, me and my comp were dying! I just love teaching younger people because of all that I learn from them! On Wednesday we do service regularly at SUVA food pantry, in which we package food and hand them out to those who need it, they have a really awesome group of volunteers that have been working there for years and are super fun to work with! One of the workers, Fred, always gives us a warm welcome! "It's the Hermanas!!!!!!!'" Just picture the gringoest accent. That afternoon after service one of our recent converts, Guile took us to eat pupusas and have a lesson!

 Our recent convert, Guile took us to eat pupusas!

 

He is so hilarious, I was able to hear a little more about how he met the missionaries and his conversion story. Every time I hear someone's conversion story my testimony grows more and more knowing that there are people like him everywhere, waiting for the restored gospel. p.s. I LOVE pupusas! My favorite thing in the world. On Thursday we accidentally locked our keys in the car, that was fun :) had to go up to the mission office get a spare and unlock our car. :) but all was worked out. We have been working hard every day to talk to everyone that is in our path and find new investigators. We meet so many cool people everyday and I have been truly seeking the Lords guidance in how to effectively find new investigators. 

 

Sunday was good. It was a little hard because although we have some people that we are working with we had to stop teaching a few of them because they haven't been progressing and none of our investigators came to church....so we were a little bummed out. But in gospel principles we talked about the life of Christ and the Hno. Teaching the class asked the missionaries in the class to reflect about how many times we have had a really hard time in the mission from either investigators not progressing or having disappointing moments. He said that having faith in Christ helps us to look at the bigger picture. To trust that not everything may not be dandy and wonderful but that we go through these things so that we can learn from it. Sometimes I don't know why I have had to go through some of the hard things I have had to go through on my mission but I trust that it is for my good and for my benefit.

 

Later that afternoon the Elders in the ward actually had a baptism that we had invited almost all of our investigators to and all of them canceled last minute!! So then we decided to call one of our investigators Noemi and she miraculously came last minute and she loved it and she said now she really wants to come to church!!! I know that we just have to have faith that we don't know the reasons why all the time but God knows, that is part of faith! I know that Jesus Christ lives, I know that He is there for everyone and I know that as we hold on to the faith and hope that we do have left that Christ will carry us through those hard times. I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Check out the new Easter video! 

FollowHim.mormon.org 

Con mucho Amor,

Hermana Abreu

Our beautiful church building; only part of it, couldn't get a more beautiful picture at night :(

 

Last Week in LA 4th, Bienvenida LA 3rd!

Hello!! This week has been great! 

I love my new area! We're in Arlington Heights which is not too far from my last area, about 20 minutes from Hollywood. My new companion is Sister Castillo, she is from Texas, her family is Mexican. She has been out for about 7 weeks now! You would never be able to tell though, she has got the whole mission thing down. We are doing great! We're trying to learn the area together because although Sister Castillo was her before she still gets confused as to where everything is but we're figuring it out poco a poquito! We are working with some really awesome people! Had some cool miracles! We had 3 investigators at church my first Sunday it was the best! A super cute family, Teodosia and Oscar and their 2 kids! The cool thing is that I had actually called their number in the phone when I was here for an exchange and set a return appointment, then they picked them back up. Apparently they were formers but now they are more interested and are progressing! 

 

Anyways! Everything is going really great and I am really looking forward to this transfer with my compa Sister Castillo! Today we walked all down Hollywood Blvd. it was a blast :) 

On Sunday after church, we were talking to members as they were leaving church, in comes walking in McKay Carlson and her husband, Tyler!!!!! Apparently they are in the Wilshire ward which meets right after the LA 3rd ward!!! I might have screamed because it was such a surprise but it was so cool especially because I haven't seen her I'm forever! 

 

Besides all that we are finding finding finding! And we have some really great people and a few families! All is well! :) Miss you all and I hope you all have a wonderful week!!! Love you!!!! Sorry so brief! Kind of really distracting in here! Will give more details next week!!! 

-Hermana Abreu

Me and McKay!!!

The despedida the Perez familygave me!

 

 

 

Another transfer!

Hi Mom!!! This week I wish I had more time but this one is going to be short.

 

I am getting transferred!!! From this wonderful area, with the best comp in the world hehe....but its okay! There are so many awesome experiences waiting for me in my new area!!!! I am going to an area pretty close to where I am in now which is good and I will get to do exchanges with Sister Moli pretty often. :) My new comp is going to be Sister Castillo and I will be finishing her training. We are going to be in the LA 3rd ward and I don't know too much about the area, but I will be filling you in as it goes by. :)

 

It is so weird how time is flying. This transfer has been one that I know I will continue to look back on, because it truly has been life changing. Everyone thinks that missionary work is hard, rigorous, full of rejection, heartache, homesickness, but that is what Satan wants us to see it as. Yes, there has been much of that on the mission... but being here with Sister Moli, working hard every single day, talking to everyone about Jesus Christ is the most joyous thing I have ever experienced in my entire life. I LOVE being a missionary. I love being able to testify of something that has changed my life to people that have never even heard of God. Everyday I am amazed at how many people there are in LA that have no idea how the Atonement can change them, uplift them, comfort them, heal them. Being able to see this happen is life changing. If there is one thing I have been reminded of this transfer is that missionary work is the greatest work on earth and its a work that is filled with hard moments, but most of all it is joyous. I have said it before, but its true. And we can feel like this all the time, when we live the gospel of Jesus Christ and when we share it! I am going to miss these people here a lot. But Heavenly Father has more of His children waiting for the gospel in another area. Hasta ver!!

 

p.s--- While we were teaching our 8 year old investigator April about the 10 commandments and follow the prophet, we pulled up a picture of Thomas S. Monson and when we showed it to her, she was like "Donald Trump?!" Yup. We died. Hahaha Have a fantabulous week!!! Love youuuu!!!!!! 

Love, 

Hermana Abreu 

Hollywood Blvd.!!

 

Me and Sis. Moli and some returned missionaries in the ward!


Oh, and P.S.S. Totally saw the actor from Phil of the future at Chipotle. Sister Moli and I got some free coupons from a member and so we went today for fun but sunset blvd and sure enough there he was...only I would notice ahaha it was funny!